Professional Documents
Culture Documents
productiv
3. learners focus not only on language, but also on the learning process itself
4. the learners own personal experiences are important elements in classroom
learning
5. it is an attempt to link classroom language learning with language
activation outside the classroom
Culture
language and culture are two components of an interactive system
linguistic level of communication < sociolinguistic level of communication: culture
The relationship between culture and language:
- close, sometimes viewed as synonyms
- languages are one of the main symbol systems through which people interpret the
meanings of the world around them (besides art, religion, cuisine, music, dance, etc.)
- language is one of the primary components of culture, it is a vehicle of explaining or
expressing culture
- Sapir-Whorf hypothesis-lang influences thought, people from diff cultures think difflearning about culture is learning about their thoughts
Definitions of culture:
- human-made part of environment
- (behaviorist) observable behaviors or sets of behaviors, such as habits, customs, and
traditions
- (anthropological linguists) all socially acquired learned behavior
- (anthropologists and social psychologists) and rules underlying these behaviors
- attitude and conduct
- (cognitive anthropologists) individual meanings and interpretation of these
behaviors
- (symbolic anthropologists) system of symbols or meaning, relationship between
meaning, experience, and reality
Freedom for the learners to develop their own cultural interpretations. Culture learning
is an ongoing, dynamic process in which learners cultural perceptions can change,
unfold, and mature over time.
ESL classrooms as a cultural microcosm of the world.
ethnocentrism (the stage of reaction to difference): ones culture is central to all reality
ethnorelativism (the stage of openness to difference): the experience of ones own beliefs and
behaviors is just one organization of reality among many viable possibilities
denial > defense > minimization > acceptance > adaptation > integration
Traditional Approaches
Culture is a diversion from real language
work.
The definition of culture is often far more
restricted and does not allow for the
individuals perceptions and interpretations.
The teacher sets the same cultural awareness
goals for all students.
The focus is on helping students fit into U.S.
culture (often at a superficial level).
Culture shock: challenged personal identity, emotional and sometimes even physical
symptoms (can involve fear, anxiety, anger, depression, withdrawal, stress, alienation, and
illness)
- between the stages of initial delight and a more comfortable, deeper resolution
- cannot be prevented
- discussing feelings, expressing culture shock (e.g. writing, journals or diaries, role-play,
etc.)
- emphasizing commonalities between the cultures so that students feel more at home
and less in a state of shock
energy
Teacher Roles
A teacher can play many roles: authority figure, leader, knower, director, manager, counselor,
guide, even a friend, confidante, parent.
- controller: tied to classroom discipline
- director: giving instructions, directing the activities in the classroom
- manager: planning materials, keeping track of the grades, has to do with administration
- facilitator: leads, inspires students, motivating to do the activity
- resource: providing answers to students questions
willing acceptance of roles and consistent fairness to all students equally
cultural expectations:
expected to have all answers
expected to suppress emotions
interpret intellectual disagreement
personal disloyalty
reward students for accuracy
types of evaluation:
1. pre-use evaluation: looking at the future potential performance of the coursebook
2. in-use evaluation
3. post-use evaluation: retrospective assessment of a coursebooks performance, useful
for identifying strengths and weaknesses
a) evaluating for potential: in general, what it might be good for
b) for suitability: matching a coursebook against a specific requirement
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virtual collaboration and interaction: better, changed, richer teaching process, personalized
content, positive affective environment
features:
- task
- technology (I(nformation)C(omunication)T(echnology))
- participants
- prior knowledge, experience, culture, etc.
- physical environment (the ability to participate)
- social environment
types:
o according to types of participants:
1. between students
Writeboard
- on-line multi-user access to documents
- tracking and comparison options
- no formatting options
2. between staff
- features: formal or informal, free, participants are equals (except the
administrator), communication is mediated
teachingenglish.org.uk
- virtual, asynchronous collaboration between teachers
(discussions, seminars, conferences, courses, research,
professional development)
- teaching resource database (materials, articles, references)
- teacher development
- forum, blogs, regional bulletins, networks, polls, video
discussions
Skype in the Classroom
- an educational platform, a social network of teachers, students
and institutions, with the possibility of real-time collaboration
- searching for and connecting teachers
- resource database (no review process)
- free conference calls
- recording and Whiteboard options
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